1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video program broadcasting apparatus, method, and program used in TV broadcast or video playing on a street and, more particularly, to a video program broadcasting apparatus, method, and program which can easily acquire use information such as the URL of a sponsor from a broadcast program.
2. Description of the Related Arts
In recent years, on TV broadcasting or video playing on a street, a method of displaying the URL of a homepage on the Internet on a screen of a commercial program to guide potential buyers is frequently used. As a method of using the URL displayed on a video program screen, the following method is used. That is, when a user wants to know further detailed information, the user notes or memorizes a URL which is an access destination of the Internet displayed on a video program and performs a URL access operation and an operation for starting a WWW browser to access the homepage of the URL.
However, in a conventional method of displaying a URL on a video program screen to cause a user to a homepage, a URL of the Internet displayed on a video program must be memorized or noted by the user.
However, since a time for displaying the URL on the video program is relatively short, it is difficult to memorize or note the URL. Even if the URL can be memorized or noted, mistakes may be made in the URL to cause many erroneous accesses to the homepage.
The display of the URL on the video program screen is small at a corner of the screen to prevent a movie of a commercial program from being blocked, so that the display of the URL itself cannot be easily seen.
When the display of the URL is increased in size to solve this problem, the original commercial program is largely blocked, and the display of a URL and a commercial program cannot be easily compatible. As a method of solving the problem, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-101979, a method which embeds a URL between vertical retrace lines of a television broadcast screen, acquires the URL through a dedicated teletext broadcasting receiver, and causes a user to access a homepage or the like is proposed.
However, according to this method, the television receiver requires a function of decoding teletext broadcasting and an internet access function. Such a special television receiver has a complex configuration and is low in cost. The television receiver is lack in practicality of use of a URL by a personal computer.